All I Want For Christmas is You
by LiveinLivingColor
Summary: Legally Blonde: What you want is right in front of you, front of you... Emmett and Elle spend Christmas Eve together and realize what's been in front of them all along.


A/N: Happy holidays, everyone! A one-shot, my holiday gift to you all.

"I know, I'm sorry I can't be there. I'll fly home for New Year's, I promise. Love you, too. Tell everyone Merry Christmas from me."

Elle hung up the phone and sighed. Her friends of Delta Nu were upset that she wasn't coming home to celebrate the Christmas holiday with them, but even if she wanted to, she couldn't have gone home- flights were cancelled left and right because of a huge snowstorm- and although she felt bad about abandoning her friends, she had plans with Emmett for Christmas Eve.

"Emmett!" she exclaimed, realizing that she'd been on the phone with Margot for much longer than she'd thought, and Emmett would be arriving any minute to pick her up. She looked down at her outfit, which consisted of pajama pants, a tank top, and slippers. Clearly, that wasn't appropriate for a holiday, and she jumped up frantically, pulling clothes out of her closet as fast as possible. By the time Emmett knocked on her door, she had managed to find a festive-looking outfit, apply makeup, and get her hair out of the tangled ponytail it had been in earlier, and she smiled when she answered the door, trying not to look rushed.

"Hey," she said, opening the door to let him in. "I'll just be a second."

Emmett watched, in amusement, as she rushed around the room trying to put on shoes and jewelry all at once, struggling with the clasp on her necklace.

"Here, I'll do it." He said, walking over and taking the necklace from her hands, closing it at the back.

"Thanks," she said, turning to face him as she grabbed her purse, "I'm sorry I wasn't ready, I had to spend an hour explaining to all of the Delta Nus why I couldn't come home."

"They wouldn't believe the fact that there was a huge blizzard?"

"Oh, they believed it. They wanted me to bribe one of the pilots to fly me to California."

Emmett laughed, "Because having bribery on your record would definitely score you a spot at a competitive law firm…" he said, rolling his eyes.

Elle smirked and shut off the lights, leading him into the hallway. They walked to the end of the hall and to the elevators, and Emmett gestured to the open doors.

"After you." He said, smiling and she stepped onto the elevator, Emmett close behind.

XXX

After they'd eaten dinner at Emmett's apartment (which he had cooked, his culinary skills unbeknownst to Elle), they sat on the couch in the living room, the fireplace glowing in front of them. Elle realized that her efforts to look presentable had gone to waste, as her outfit had proved much too uncomfortable and she had resided to wearing one of Emmett's old T-shirts and a pair of sweatpants she'd left there accidentally on a night that they'd been up late studying.

"This is nice." She said, breaking the silence.

"It is. Nicer than Christmas has been in a while."

"Your family didn't make a big deal out of it?" she asked.

Emmett shook his head, "We used to. Before my dad left, Christmas was our thing. We made a huge evening out of putting up our tree and drinking hot chocolate and baking cookies for Christmas Eve. After a while, though, after he was out of the picture, my family stopped coming over, my mom stopped being happy and I ended up setting up the tree myself. We ate Chinese take-out for dinner, just me, my mom and whatever reject she was with at the time."

Elle put a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sorry, Emmett."

"It's okay. I got used to it after a while. But this…this is nice. Having someone around who actually remembers that it's a holiday."

"I know what you mean." She said, and Emmett raised his eyebrows.

Elle sighed and continued. "I love my parents, I do, but they thought that the solution to everything, but especially the way to make Christmas a good holiday, was to buy me expensive gifts. My dad was never actually home on Christmas, he always had a business trip, and my mom never celebrated much anyway. When I got to UCLA, I stopped going home for Christmas. Being with the girls from Delta Nu was such a nice change, so happy and fun, and it made Christmas magical again. They were more like family than my parents ever were."

Emmett could tell, looking at the tears forming in her eyes, that she missed the sorority, especially on a day that mattered so much to them.

"I'm sorry you couldn't get home, Elle, I know you miss them." He put an arm around her shoulder and wiped away the one tear that had made its way down her cheek.

"It's okay, I'm okay." She said, taking a deep breath. "I just miss them sometimes. But you know what?"

He shrugged, turning to face her.

"I'd rather be here with you than anywhere else."

Emmett knew that this was true for him as well, he'd always rather be with Elle than anyone else, but he never thought she felt the same way. He glanced back at her, smiling.

"Right back at you."

The two leaned back against the couch in silence, and Elle looked out the window.

"It's snowing." She stated, a smile coming across her face.

"Yeah, it is." Emmett replied, not knowing why that was such a big deal.

"I never got snow in California. I only really saw it when I was little and we went to my grandparents' house for Christmas, in Colorado. But that was…ten years ago."

Emmett couldn't remember a winter without snow, and until Elle he'd never met anyone who hadn't as well. He watched her staring through the glass, fascinated with the white powdery flakes falling and swirling in the air, and he smiled. Just being herself, just sitting staring out a window in baggy pajamas, she looked beautiful.

"Well, we should check the weather," He said, breaking her reverie, "To see what it's going to be like for your flight home on New Year's."

She smiled gratefully and he turned on the TV, flipping to a news station.

"There is a severe snow advisory for the entire county until eight AM. If at all possible, do not attempt to travel until after Christmas Day. Have a safe and happy holiday."

The station went to a commercial and Emmett flipped to another station, where the advisory was confirmed and a longer weather report was announced.

"The snow advisory will be in effect until tomorrow at eight AM. Flights will be delayed, but airports will try their best to keep most flights running within the next few days."

Elle breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe she would get to come home, after all.

"Well, you're not leaving here tonight," Emmett said, turning off the TV, "It's not safe."

She nodded, leaning back on the pillows. "It's okay, your couch is sounding pretty comfortable right now."

Emmett laughed, standing up to shut the lights and hand her a blanket. "It's already after one, anyway. We should sleep. Goodnight, Elle."

"Goodnight, Emmett."

XXX

Emmett wasn't sure why, but his bed was sinking. His eyes opened, first noticing the time on the clock- 4:27- and then noticing that Elle was sitting on the edge of the bed, which must have been what caused the mattress to shift. He sat up quickly, rubbing his eyes.

"What's wrong?"

He could see, as his eyes adjusted, the tears streaking her face, reflected in the sliver of light coming from the streetlight outside his window. Wordlessly, he moved forward, pulling her into his arms, and he let her cry, although he was still clueless as to why this was happening.

"This is stupid." She mumbled into his shirt, "This is so stupid. I'm a big girl; I can take care of myself. I shouldn't have to wake you up..." Her hysteria increased and he pulled her closer, still trying to decipher what was going on.

"Shh…" he said, trying to reassure her so that he could better understand what had triggered this, "Now, what happened?"

"I…I was asleep, I was fine, and then I was dreaming that I was moving back to California, and when I got home, my parents told me that they never should have sent me to law school, that they knew I would never make it. And I know it wasn't real, but what if they were right? What if I'm not good enough? What if I belong in a sorority at UCLA? I'm not _serious_ enough for this!"

He realized, then, that this was a breakdown that had been on its way for some time now. Eventually, the stress of the school year would hit her as it hit all law students, and, like all law students, she would begin to question if she was even cut out to be a lawyer, if she was smart enough, if she was serious enough.

"Elle, that's not true. I know that, and you know that. You got into this school because you're smart, and passionate and good enough to be here. You're going to be a talented lawyer, I know that, and you just need to make it through school. You _can_ do this. Okay?"

She nodded. "Okay."

After a moment of silence, she laughed, hoarsely. "I told you it was stupid."

He laughed, too, releasing her from his arms, "It may have been, but everything seems a lot worse at 4:30 in the morning when you're half asleep and exhausted. It wouldn't have been that big of a deal if it had been triggered by something while you were awake."

She nodded, knowing he was right. "Thank you, Emmett, for not...letting me completely freak out."

"That's what friends do. That's what I'm here for." He said, smiling, as if it were obvious. "Now I know that you're an adult and that you're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself, but if you need anything, I'm right here."

"Thank you." She said, resting her head on his shoulder, "You want to know something?"

He turned to her. "You're the best friend I've ever had. I love my Delta Nu girls, but you…you just always know what to say."

It was silent a moment, Emmett trying to find a reaction, before she lifted her head and looked at him. "Do I have to go back in your living room?"

"Not if you don't want to."

She sighed, relieved, "Good, because you have a seriously creepy picture of a baseball player on your wall and it stares at me."

He laughed, "Come here."

She laid down next to him, pulling the blankets around her, and smiled. "This is like a scene from Will and Grace."

He looked at her, confused.

"Do _not_ even tell me you've never seen Will and Grace. They're the number one pair of best friends in TV history! That's it, we're watching the first season DVDs tomorrow."

Emmett laughed before letting his eyes flutter closed, but sleep didn't come for a long while. The thought of Elle next to him for the entire night was keeping him awake, along with the one thought that was now consistently bothering him: she thought of them as a perfect set of best friends. Nothing more.

XXX

The next morning, they sat in Emmett's living room, breakfast plates empty on the coffee table.

"Thank you again, for last night." Elle said, "It really…kept me from having a complete mental breakdown."

"It was no problem, really. It's what I'm here for; it's what best friends do."

She smiled and turned to face him. "See, that's what I love about you. You act like all the great things you do are just automatic. I don't think you realize how much you mean to people."

His heart clenched at the four letter word he'd forbidden himself to use, giving up on Elle ever feeling the same way he felt about her, and while he was busy wallowing in what could have been, he felt her lips on his, completely taking him off guard.

A few seconds later, she jumped back. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that, I just-"

"Elle." He said, cutting her off, "I…" It was now or never, he thought, and he took a deep breath, "I've loved you for a long time now."

Her jaw dropped eyes widening. "How long?" she asked, almost whispering.

"Since the day you took me shopping. Even longer than that." He confessed, averting his eyes.

She slapped him in the arm, making him wince. "You butthead, why didn't you _tell_ me?!"

He stammered, not expecting that reaction from her, "I…I…I just gave up on you ever feeling the same way."

She closed her eyes a moment, running a hand through her hair. "All this time…you loved me _all this time_, all this time we _wasted_…God, we're both hiding the exact same thing from one another, and we could have been together this whole time!"

His eyes widened. "Wait, you felt the same way and didn't tell _me?_"

They both looked each other in the eye and promptly started laughing.

"We were so _stupid_." She exclaimed, sighing in disbelief.

It became silent again for a moment as they locked eyes, neither knowing where to go next.

"Well, in that case," she said, finally, "this isn't so random." With that, she pressed her lips to his, Emmett's mind finally catching up enough for him to react, and when they broke apart, foreheads resting together, he smiled.

"I can't believe it. All this time, that obnoxious Christmas song that my mother played all the time was right. I used to _hate _that song."

Elle wracked her brain for the song he was talking about and suddenly, it came to her as she smiled up at him.

"All I want for Christmas," she sang, softly, taking his hand in hers, "Is you."

_Fin_


End file.
